German and Russian teams shared the medals at the CEV Anapa Satellite Tournament

Anapa, Russia, January 19, 2014 – Yaroslav Koshkarev and Ruslan Bykanov were one of four Russian medallists and gave the home crowd lots to cheer when they claimed men’s gold at the CEV indoor Satellite in Anapa, the opening European tournament of the year.

Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude meanwhile struck gold in the women’s competition to add another set of medals to the silvers they won at the 2013 season-ending FIVB Durban Open in December and become one of two German teams to finish on the podium.

Koshkarev is no stranger to victory in Anapa after he won gold at the FIVB Anapa Open in 2013 alongside Konstantin Semenov. This time he was paired with Bykanov and in the final they defeated first seeds Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov 2-0 (22-20, 21-17).

“Even though there were no more than three people supporting us today, this did not matter at all,” Sude said.

“We were a bit nervous in the first set and this prevented us from showing our best,” added Laboureur. “However, we gradually switched to a more aggressive approach and this helped us seize the victory.”

After losing in the semifinals Russia’s top team Evgenia Ukolova and Maria Prokopeva claimed the bronze medals with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) victory, while Germany’s Armin Dollinger and Clemens Wickler won the men’s bronze with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 17-15) victory over Austria’s Christoph Dressler and Thomas Kunert.